SAN DIEGO (CNS) - An approximately $1.9 million summer school program intended to help students at risk of being held back or who need to make up for poor grades in core classes was unanimously approved Tuesday night by the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education.
A four-week program in elementary and middle schools will be offered for first, third and eighth grade students in danger of being retained.
About 1,500 students in first and third grades will be eligible, according to the district. Another 600 eighth graders are at risk of not continuing to high school.
Eighth graders with failing grades in at least two core classes are required to attend summer school, or be retained, per district policy.
A six-week high school program will be offered for those who need to make up for Ds and Fs in core classes like English/language arts, mathematics, history/social studies or science. The district estimates around 3,600 students received Fs in the fall semester.
"We've got to address the needs of the highest, most vulnerable students at critical grades," Superintendent Bill Kowba said.
A one-day bridging program would also be arranged for those moving from eighth to ninth grades.
Elementary summer school programs were set for Bay Park, Cherokee Point, Chollas Mead, Kimbrough, Lindbergh-Schweitzer, Mason, Whitman and Zamorano elementary schools.
Middle and high school programs will be at Henry, Hoover, Lincoln, Madison, Mira Mesa and San Diego high schools. Student transportation will not be provided.
Bill Freeman, president of the San Diego Education Association, the union representing the district's teachers, said he hoped that once the district received increased state funding in the coming years, the summer school program would be expanded to more campuses and more students could be accommodated.
"All kids should have an opportunity to go to summer school, and they shouldn't have to drive across town to do it," Freeman said.
Trustee Marne Foster asked that staff to research whether a summer school program could also be conducted at Morse High School, due to safety issues that could arise when students from that school were combined with those from Lincoln High School.
Freeman also noted that rival gangs could cause a conflict.
District staff was directed to further look into programs at and Morse and La Jolla high schools and report back at a later date.
